Tubing

Since this is my second time using hard tubing in my water cooling loop I didn’t expect that it this loop would be more difficult than the last one. But it was. First of the silicone insert from the EKWB DIY Kit didn’t fit the PETG tube that I was using.. I tried freezing the insert, which sometimes helps, but this time it just would’t work. So, I resorted to water which worked somewhat, but i wasn’t able to get the whole insert into the tube. However a bit of soap and water worked wonders! But i soon discovered the “risk” with using water as a lubricant… While heating the tube the water between the tube and the insert started to boil… and expand like a balloon.

Blisters due to being to close

Bending when it’s to cool

By realizing that i was holding the tube to close to the heat source (less than 10 cm away) I was able to bend the tubes as i liked when i just kept my distance… Pro tip: patience and keep your distance! I’ll be redoing two pieces of tubing in the case; the one going from the CPU block to the radiator is preventing me from easily change ram if I’d wanted to, and the bottom tube going between the two reservoirs is a bit shady.. It feels like it could spring loose if I’d just touch it.. So I’ve ordered som additional tubes and new fittings! I’ll be upgrading from EK HD to EK HDC to add some additional safety in the build!

Radiator

When my fans finally arrived i instantly mounted them to the radiators! Well, three of them.. Then i figured out that i didn’t have enough screws to mount the remaining three fans on the other side of the radiator. But since the intake fans would’t be visible I found some screws that fitted, or so i thought. The screws i found was M4 thread while the actual holes in the radiator was designed for M3 thread… So I had to get hold of some M3 threaded screws. This proved to be impossible.. Well if you don’t want to pay 12€ for some 30 mm M3 threaded screws that is. But as my hardware store didn’t have any M3 threaded screw at all, I went with M4.. And just made the holes bigger.. Turned out ok i think.

Custom screws..?

We done here?

No. No we are not. As i mentioned i want to redo some tubing.. and as you’ve seen in the pictures there’s no light source! I decided to go with the non-led ML 120’s, mainly because of a longer delivery time and also Martin (BoyGlorious) was pointing out that it would be better to highlight certain areas with smaller led instead of having all the light coming from the front.. And as the lights would’ have been depending on the fans, I’d have no way of turning them of.. Tubing, lights and cable management!